Page 4 - The Jewish Voice - April '22

Page 4, The Jewish Voice

LocaL happenings

Famed “Holocaust Memory Roma by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust
Keeper,” and Catholic Priest, by Bullets. In addition, Father Desbois has and continues to
document crimes against the Yazidis women at the hands of
Father Patrick Desbois Shares Isis, and genocide in Guatemala and other countries.
Local Jewish community leader Bruce Gendelman, who

Powerful Experiences with spoke at the event, shared: “The tragedy of the Holocaust
weighs heavily on me, as it does for most Jews. My maternal
Over 150 Community Leaders grandfather was the only one in his family to survive the
ravages of the Holocaust in Ukraine. I kept it at arm’s distance
More than 150 area until 2015 when I traveled there and saw exactly where my
l ea de rs, promi ne nt ancestors were murdered and heard the awful first-person
community members, and accounts myself. It was during that trip that I met Father
educators gathered for a Patrick Desbois; he is my hero and, without a doubt, the most
captivating evening featuring remarkable person I have ever met.”
a discussion with Father Myrna and Spencer Partrich Bob and Judy Snyder The discussion was particularly poignant as the Russian
Patrick Desbois, a world- invasion of Ukraine – home to more than 200,000 Jews – brings
renowned historian, human honor Sidney and Dorothy Kohl by their children, Lori back traumatic memories of World War II, especially for the
rights activist, and Catholic Gendelman, Robert Kohl, Larry Kohl, and Lisa Kohl, and country’s large population of Holocaust survivors.
priest. The evening was their families. The event was held last month at the Norton Over the past month, The Federation has established
hosted by Jewish Federation Museum of Art. a Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund, so far raising nearly
of Palm Beach County, with Named “A Holocaust Memory Keeper” by Wall Street $1,000,000 from more than 1,100 community members to
generous support from an Journal and featured on 60 Minutes, Desbois has devoted his support critical efforts on the ground through Federation’s
endowment established to Gene and Hope Silverman life to collecting testimonies of eyewitnesses and identifying global partners.
sites of mass crimes committed against European Jews and The discussion also spotlighted how the mission of
Desbois and his team has evolved to encompass the threat
of modern-day genocide, discrimination, and antisemitism.
Palm Beach County educators were invited to the event,
emphasizing the partnership between Federation’s Jewish
Community Relations Council and with the Palm Beach
County School District to ensure that public school students,
faculty, and administrators are receiving enhanced Holocaust
education to curb the alarming rise in hate between different
peoples, antisemitism, and Holocaust denial.
Father Desbois is a Roman Catholic priest, scholar,
researcher, human rights advocate, author, and multi-award
recipient, including the Medal of Valor by the Simon
Wiesenthal Center and the Humanitarian Award by the U.S.
Juliana Gendelman and Holocaust Memorial Museum. His work has been widely
Paul and Sue Efron Chris Goldberg recognized, including for his book “Holocaust by Bullets”
Lori and Bruce Gendelman Kerry and Simone Vickar (2008), which received the National Jewish Book Award in
the United States. His dedication has earned him the privilege
of advisor to the Vatican on Catholic relations with Judaism;
in addition, he is a professor at Georgetown University
As a young man, Desbois heard stories from his
grandfather, who was a WWII French soldier held captive
in a German camp in Rawa Ruska (Ukraine). Desbois’
unexpected encounter with eyewitnesses of the local 1943
massacre of Jews during a visit to Western Ukraine in 2003
was the starting point for his quest to find witnesses and
document mass shootings of Jews and Roma.

Photo credit Capehart Photography

Jerry and Barbara Pearlman Paul and Roberta Kozloff Sidney Kohl, Fr. Patrick Desbois, and Dorothy Kohl Local Happenings on page 5

From the Rabbis from page 3

The good people around them set them up in an Thank You!
orphanage where they stayed until the end of the war.
Afterwards, Mina (12) and Tova, her younger sister, were
asked if they could recall any addresses of their relatives, in
which case they would be sent to live with them. Otherwise
they would be raised by the state in the gentile orphanage.
After racking her brain, Mina suddenly recalled how each
year before Pesach she would accompany her mother to
the post office where she would lovingly mail Pesach’dike
goose schmaltz to her brother, Reb Yaakov Yosef Raskin,
and his family in Leningrad.
The lady at the post office insisted that the packaging
was insufficient, forcing her mother to shlep back home for
more supplies, while leaving her young Mina to watch the
package at the post office. For the duration of two hours
of her mother’s absence, young Mina did exactly as she
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